29 April 2011

BYD all-electric e6 Taxi in service in Shenzhen. Click to enlarge.

In conjunction with the one-year anniversary of its all-electric vehicle Taxi fleet test, BYD announced high-level results of several pilots of its plug-in electric vehicles—the F3DM, e6 and eBUS-12—in fleet testing across the world.

In total, BYD plug-ins have accumulated more than 1.769 million all-electric miles (2.847 million km) and have seen no diminished range or capacity due to rapid-charging. BYD vehicles are estimated to have already saved $360,000 in fuel costs and more than 2.776 million lbs (1.26 million kg) of carbon-dioxide.

50 of BYD’s e6, five-seat crossover vehicles, each with a range of more than 160 miles (300 km) and a top speed of 88 mph (140 km/h), have been in service at Shenzhen-based Pengcheng Electric Taxi Company since 29 April 2010. The Shenzhen e6 Taxi fleet has now accumulated ~1,730,000 all-electric miles (2.77 million kilometers). The distance traveled for single fleet vehicles has reached ~63,000 miles each (>100,000 km).

250 more eTaxis are being delivered to the International University in Shenzhen before August this year. According to collected data, the per-car-fuel-savings is more than $1,167 per Taxi per month (driving an average of 400 km per day). BYD’s all-electric Taxis are expected to help Shenzhen avoid about 133 lbs (or 60.4 kg) of carbon-dioxide emissions per day per taxi. This is an equivalent of 2,425,060 lbs (or 1.1M kg) of carbon-dioxide pollution saved by this fleet in the first year.

BYD said that the most important finding in the e6 fleet testing was that there has been no noticeable energy drop—both driving range and battery performance has been stable in rapid-charging conditions over the 1.73M miles tested.

The results of the e6 fleet, which was continuously rapid charged in 20-30 minutes, provide a proven track record for its Iron-Phosphate battery technology, BYD said.

BYD also reported on its F3DM fleet which BYD launched in its first US tests at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles (HACLA). The F3DM can travel more than 40 miles (64 km) all-electric but can be engaged to act as a Hybrid-Electric (HEV) to extend its range up to 300 miles (483 km). The HACLA fleet has now accumulated ~10,430 miles (16,785 km) all-electric and 14,430 total miles (23,223 km); 4,000 fuel-driven miles when extended range was necessary.

The fleet is achieving an equivalent of 88 mpg (2.67 L/100km) and BYD estimates the per-car-savings—even netting out EV charging and electricity costs—is ~70%. BYD’s dual-mode cars are expected to save HACLA about 37 lbs (16.8 kg) of carbon-dioxide per-day-per-auto when driven to the EV range.

In China, BYD launched an all-electric bus fleet with the eBUS-12 in Shenzhen and Changsha, China in January 2011. These fleets have already accumulated 28,802 all-electric miles (46,380 km) while undergoing a 3-hour-charge of the 324 kWh FE battery. An example of the per-eBUS-savings for Shenzhen’s Bus Line 202 (driving only 200 km per day) is about $2,833 monthly per eBUS. 300 more buses will be delivered to Shenzhen in August of this year. BYD’s all-electric eBUSes save about 708 lbs (322 kg) in carbon-dioxide emissions per eBUS per day.

Comments

Whatever else is said,

"..rapid charging not diminishing capacity..50 of BYD’s e6,..The Shenzhen e6 Taxi fleet has now accumulated ~1,730,000 all-electric miles (2.77 million kilometers). The distance traveled for single fleet vehicles has reached ~63,000 miles each (>100,000 km)."

They probably do have a good battery, they are a battery company and only recently a car company. I once said that the car company that makes its own batteries would be at an advantage and people said that was not true. We will see.

Still, in China gasoline is subsidized at the pump.. diesel too I believe. They have to transfer that budget to electrics if they want to see adoption.

63k miles in one year, assuming 312 days of use is 200 miles per day.. a significant number. I doubt taxi drivers are getting the standard 160 miles of range so perhaps they are charging twice in a day.

Such a large battery in a car driven 40 miles a day would only cycle the the battery 25%, this will give you a very long life.. probably calendar life limited. No need for active liquid cooling either.

I wonder if what happened is that one or a few units hit 63k but the fleet average was 34k.

63k with mostly rapid recharges and no appreciable battery degradation is a game changer.

Another report stated that real world range for these taxis was 186 miles. This one says "more than 160 miles" so that seems consistent.

Apparently China is going to undertake a major program to get people into EVs. Already they have something like 200 million people riding electric bikes so the transition will be easier with drivers who are used to recharging.

If the Chinese can juice their market then we should see some volume manufacturing resulting in significantly lower prices.

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BYD is a battery company, a very major battery company, which bought an existing car company in order to get into the EV business. They've partnered with Daimler (yes, the German folks) to create a well-engineered line of EVs. Looks to me like they are going to be a major player.

Bob...I agree with you. BYD is taking the right steps to become a top grade world battery and electrified vehicle manufacturer. Starting with e-taxis (E-6) was a smart decision. They will expand with many electrified vehicles by 2015.

SJC....Yes, making both the battery and the electrified vehicle will give BYD and edge. JV's with 2 or 3 EU manufacturers will give them the high quality faster to meet the world market.

Taxi trials are a good way to show accelerated life performance. Taxis put on lots of city miles in a short time, so if they perform well here over a few years they should perform well over a 10 year period for personal use.

I remember the company doing an EV taxi trial in New York in the winter. They did not heat the batteries and the range was half what was expected. That was a smaller company that just made a wrong choice.

GM actually has a patent on warming the batteries to get longer range in cold weather. This seems like such an obvious idea, I was surprised that they would even consider awarding a patent on it, but they did.

With the firing of the exec who brought BYD to Berkshire, the investment will bring more trouble and bad PR than it's worth to shareholders. BYD will have to get along without Berkshire money most likely.

The major problem their products will have in the US is the same problem all of China has - a disrespect for human rights. Until China joins the family of nations that support the letter of the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights signed by China - they will have a hard time in the United States.

You hear of human rights issues being raised when China tells us to get our debt reduced. It is one of those reactions that can be counted on.

People may occasionally mention human rights, but you give them a $10,000 hybrid made in China selling at Walmart and they will be selling like hotcakes. Somehow the occasional discussion of human rights fades into the background.

HarveyD - you should READ what's going on at Berkshire because of the insider trades made by a senior exec on BYD. AND BYD stock has fallen dramatically ($4.60 US)following news of sales staff layoffs in February. Then in March, profit down 94% and this disastrous news:

"BYD missed its delivery target for last year by 13 percent, selling 519,806 cars. It cut the target by 25 percent in August from an earlier estimate of 800,000 units. To revive sales growth, BYD slashed prices of five car models by as much as 15,000 yuan last month."

Reel$$....BYD is/was a very large battery manufacturer, recently converted to a car builder as a side line. The transition is difficult but they will manage to do it, even with BEVs and PHEVs. (Their e-taxis and e-buses performed very well for one+ million miles in the last year). W. Buffet does not invest for short term quick profit. He is a long term very successful investor. He could have pulled a 500% profit with BVD stocks within one year after his original purchase but he elected to stick with it for the long term. His right hand man broke the company rules by buying for himself and had to go. Nobody is irreplaceable. Forcing him to go was a smart decision.

. Wallace....Yes, Volvo's electrified vehicles cold weather solution, to keep the battery/cabin warm and extend battery charge duration, may be the way to go, at least until batteries energy density have doubled or tripled and cold weather battery enclosure and cabs are produced.